a sense of normality
by Shadow Moses
Summary: Jack starts having trouble sleeping agian


A sense of normality  
  
  
  
After the collapse of global economy life had returned to some semblance of normality for Jack, him and Marla had gone back to live in her flat, and he had told her the whole story of him and Tyler. He had carried on his job as a projectionist, not really for the money, because he still had the pay checks rolling in from the car company, but more because he found it strangely calming. Then it started again, the routine became boring, his mind started to drift, and once again he couldn't sleep.  
  
He tossed and turned in his bed, it seemed that the tiniest thing could keep him from sleep, he would be about to drift off and Marla would shift jolting him back from the edge, or a cat would quietly meow in a locked room three hundred miles away and he would rocket back to consciousness. He abandoned his attempts at sleep and got up to fix himself a drink, thinking over his current bout of insomnia, then it all fell into place, there was only one way to sleep properly again, fight club had to be re- started.  
  
The next day sitting in his tiny projector room he planned how to do it all. After the collapse the surviving members of Project Mayhem all went back to there lives, but the had all given Jack their addresses 'just in case'. So as he sat there, leafing through his address book and thinking of what to write, his mind drifted to the old days, with Tyler, what would he have written? Then he wrote.  
  
Space monkeys,  
  
It seems that the need to fight has come on me once again, you know the rules, and you know the place.  
  
  
  
He smiled as he signed it, adding the name of the clubs dead founder  
  
Yours truly,  
  
Tyler Durden.  
  
He wrote out all thirty of them, only stopping to swap from one projector to another, so the film carried on rolling. And by the time that the film had finished, so had he, the sat before him, thirty white rectangles, all addressed, but at the top where a name should be there was only a blank space I tucked them in my pocket ready to deliver the next morning.  
  
That night he slept, and the next night it all began again.  
  
It was good to be back in Lou's he had missed the smell of the Arena, all he did now was sit there, watching as they all drifted in, none saw him hidden as he was in the shadows. Once they were all in the basement, he waited a bit, just to see what would happen, then stepped out, as he always had in the old days, and began it again.  
  
"The first rule of fight club is you do not talk about fight club. The second rule of fight club is YOU DO NOT TALK ABOUT FIGHT CLUB." Damn it felt good saying that again, as he reeled of the rules he watched as all the old faces relaxed, he knew they all felt the same way he had, tight, wrong, as if something was missing. Now they all knew.  
  
"Well as this is an invitations only affair im guessing that there's no new people, so the first fight will be between…" I stopped as someone pulled open the doors to our Arena. I didn't have a clue who it could be, everyone was here, everyone except Bob and …  
  
"Is this private or can anyone have a suck?" the voice said as it descended the stairs  
  
The voice belonged to a man, about six foot tall, and muscular, as he walked into the light there was something familiar about him but I couldn't figure out what it was.  
  
"No, I'm very sorry but this is an invitations only group, fuck off." Said angel face, walking in front of the man, but then, almost to fast to see the mans hands snaked out from by his side, where it had been to gripping either side of Angel face's head.  
  
"Sorry, but I should have been on the list." With that he snapped his arms breaking Angel faces neck as if it were a twig.  
  
"Well theres a free space now, and as I said I should have been on the list."  
  
"Im sorry" I said getting more and more angry with this mystery man, I would have been sad about Angel face, but hell, it was Angel face, who really cares? "But no one here recognises you and that means your can't join, so I'm afraid your gonna have to leave."  
  
He seemed shocked, almost insulted, "You don't recognise me?" now he was angry "But I dragged you kicking and screaming into the new dawn, and already you have forgotten me!" there was a flash and I almost saw Tyler's face superimposed over the strangers  
  
"Oh God no!" I screamed "I killed you, I don't need you anymore!" I backed away, all strength leaching out of my muscles, a minute ago it had all been going so well.  
  
"I know, but as I said before you are not unique, you may not need me any more, but there are plenty of people out there who do, and all I had to do was find one of those people, and I did, aren't you proud of me?" the last part of the sentence was spat from between grinning teeth. Then he advanced,  
  
"Well, it's my first night so I have to fight, and I choose to fight You Jack,"  
  
He jumped at me, all I could do was protect myself, I knew I was alone in this one; the others would never brake the rules and help someone out in a fight.  
  
After Project Mayhem had finished I had carried on training and found that I had a natural aptitude for boxing, so I hammered blow after blow into Tyler's head, he just stood there and took it, after his first attempt to hit me it seemed he had lost momentum and decided to stop fighting. I stopped, this was pointless, I lowered my hands, and then he snapped. I was a straight boxer, but Tyler was a mix of Ninjitsu, Karate and boxing, I tried in vain to block him and counter but there was no hope, blow after blow landed cracking into my face, he was punching, kicking elbowing, and I could do absolutely nothing to stop it, my limbs were like lead, so more hits rained down upon me. I fell to the floor, but the blows continued, I looked to the side hoping for some kind of assistance, but the crowds where back in the mood, there was nothing better than a good fight. I slowly started to slip from consciousness, wondering what would happen to Marla after I was gone.  
  
"Whoa!" I sat up in my bed, feeling like someone had poured a bucket of cold water over my head, next to me Marla stirred  
  
"Jesus Christ Jack go back to sleep," she looked over her shoulder and saw me sitting up in my bed "Jesus, what's wrong?"  
  
I looked at her admiring her in the dark, kissed her on the forehead  
  
"Absolutely nothing, go back to sleep," and with that I reached over to turn out the light, and pushed all twenty-nine letters into the bin.  
  
The end 


End file.
